ZICTA claims they can read your WhatsApp Messages and Disable any Communication Device

ZICTA has sensationally revealed that it is able to disable any communication devices and read personal messages.

The revelation is likely to unsettle many social media users especially that platforms such as WhatsApp have end-to-end encryption which ensures that only the sender and the person receiving can read what is sent, and nobody in between, not even WhatsApp.

On WhatsApp, messages are secured with a lock, and only the recipient and the sender have the special key needed to unlock and read the message.

In recent years, some tech companies with very large user-bases have been championing user privacy.

For instance, Apple and WhatsApp recently challenged law enforcement authorities’ demands to weaken their security system and/or access encrypted data.

Apple most visibly in the San Bernardino case when Apple resisted demands by the FBI that it writes a new version of its OS to weaken the security of the terrorist’s iPhone.

But ZICTA Director for Consumer Protection Mofya Chisala has also disclosed that the authority has a good working relationship with Facebook and Google in order to protect internet users in Zambia.

Mr Chisala said Communications and Transport Minister Brian Mushimba envisions an ICT sector that is well disciplined.

He said Zambia would have a lot of problem if it allowed people to do what they want online.

Mr Chisala was speaking when he featured on the Hot FM Red Hot Breakfast show on Wednesday to clarify on the raid at CEC Liquid Telecom and other IT firms in Lusaka.

“You know there have been a lot of social media pages, cloning, hate speech and the exchange of pornographic material and the ICT Act is very clear on some of these things. Now we have moved into gear to ensure that even taking you to court, we are going to ask for the maximum penalty because we don’t want a few people to twist the hand of government to now start putting in laws to start restricting people’s use of the internet. That is unnecessary, the Internet is one tool that can be used for businesses, research, communication and other things,” Mr Chisala said.

He added, “So we have now gone into gear and we are now going to visit all those we find wanting to ensure that the ICT sector is one that other countries can be proud of and come to learn from.”

“I always wish to remind people that with great power comes great responsibility. When you sit in your room on your Ipad or your phone and you start commenting, writing and rubbishing people, you know, we will catch up with you.”

Mr Chisala said the ZICTA of today has realised that collaboration and education is not the only way to go hence the need to increase on enforcement of the law.

“I think we need to switch up, turn the heat up. We are now following every lead we have and we will get to you. A very good example, a lot of you lose your phones, your laptops and when the police find them in a raid or if it is stolen, what we have to do to know if it belongs to you is that we will have to go through it and now instead of giving you back your stolen item, we will have to arrest you because even if you have deleted anything, we have equipment that can bring back everything that was deleted,” Mr Chisala explained.

He added, “So if somebody is disturbing you or harassing you on social media, come and report to ZICTA and by the way, we are having very good relationships with these social media platforms like Facebook and Google and we speaking the same language.”

“We are goona come after you and we will make you an example because we will name and shame you and we are going to blacklist you in Zambia, meaning you cannot use any of these services and if cousin, your mother, your father buys you a phone and you start using and we find out, we will blacklist your mother, your father, your cousin and whoever will give you access.”

Its Davies Chama who said Zambia should be a one party state when he was PF SG we laughed it off as wishful thinking.
Then the post was shut down we laughed at membe for not paying his taxes.
Then Sampa introduced a motion to effectively disband LAZ we laughed at Linda Kasonde for being to political.
Then they locked up HH because his driver drove at the same speed as the President’s vehicle, we laughed at HH for being arrogant.
NOW Zicta is telling you we can shut down your whatsapp and lock you up!
Guess what now YOU are not laughing!
When the state takes away people’s liberties people always liberate themselves!

I doubt it if they can …law enforcement in US and Europe have been trying to read them but they can not especially when they are tracking terrorists, then these foools they can – this is scare mongering again. Sort out the poor services instead of telling lies.

I think as sad as it is HH’s arrest is helping Zambians to know how some of these Government Institutions operate. I think the next Organization to tell and warn us is OP (SD). Thank you Mr Chisala for your timely warning.

Zambians need to wake up from their docility and expect more from these regulators…tarriffs in Zambia are so high that its daylight robbery yet the services we recieve are appaulling…even a phone that is off will be charged when you are on Pay-as-go. Most of these directors of these institutions are on free deals with these Network companies.

A lot of people who attended Night School can write and speak better English than these Lusaka Times Journalists. A lot of them have held senior positions in government. These are Whatapp and Trevor Noah generation, they cannot string a sentence without breaking into shortcuts messing the language.

ZICTA should stop scaring people about their capabilities. They are claiming to be better equipped than the FBI . That is obviously hogwash.

So this is what our tax payer money is been used for? People invading citizens privacy and freedom of speech? I think its time we all stop paying taxes. The money is either been massively looted or used for useless things like these. Can someone remind Lungu that Zambia is greater and bigger than him. As a matter of fact is one of the worst leaders Zambia has ever had as he tries to copy expired leaders like Mugabe

Rubbish.
But it’s very easy to know who Mushota is through ISP, electoral, and most likely from postings she made pre 2014. There have only been two Mushotas in Zambian politics and the last Mushota having worked in Chiluba’s government at state house and the other one you know him.

If one checked LinkedIn today, you will find Mushota and she is not what you think she is but a petty nasty thing.

This is what money can do when corruptly you are asked to sing their song.

Get a life Mushota and stop bitching on the net.

And lastly to HH family, please be strong for HH. He needs all our support.

Wow. What is this guy talking about? He says “we will catch up with you”…for what? For making comments? Does he know what free speech is? Is Zambia now a full fledged totalitarian state? Wow. Free speech means just that — free speech. People are free to speak their minds and say whatever they want, as long as they’re not inciting violence, or making physical threats against someone. But just because you don’t like the commentator’s point of view doesn’t mean you have to censor them. Only dictatorships like North Korea do that. All of you who voted for PF government must be very proud of this turn of events, huh?

LT ~How come there is no news about visionless Dagama today?
Blind Lungu only stopped PF banditry cadres to comment about HH’s persecution by PFolice. So, please LT~give the masses proper news & not always about PF propaganda.
By the way, Lungu is now confined in Zambia, he can’t even go to Malavi bcoz of being scared of the Dora Siliti Maize Scandal. How much is mealie meal today & the economy doing?
The Skeleton Key
~206~

Kikik if the mi5 and security in in the UK are pleading with WhatsApp or rather Facebook who owns it to make it possible for them to have access to read encrypted messages in cases of terrorism, and zicta wants to tell me they can read encrypted messages. Please do me a favour and eat lungus shlt kikiki

not even Edward Snowden is able to hack whatsapp, what are these mad people saying. if they can not buy drones to check if HH is using the mongu road, which software can they afford to eavesdrop on whatsapp messages.

From a legal perspective, it is cardinal that the public is sensitized on the ICT Act so that there is full protection of people’s fundamental rights such as freedom of expression. Any deliberate or negligent misapplication of the ICT Act could result in it being rendered as a conflicting law with the supreme law of the land, the constitution.

PF wants to make Zambia a one party state no wonder all these useless activities we are seeing. Your plans will fail Zambia is for Zambians not PF. The idea of coming out of ICC is one to brutalise anyone opposing their views because they think they will not be answerable to anyone. The idea of whatsapp is just a lie because they fear everyone has a phone in Zambia and are able to communicate beside their ZNBC propaganda current affairs they call news.

It is cardinal that the public is sensitized on the ICT Act so that there is full protection of people’s fundamental rights such as freedom of expression. Any deliberate or negligent misapplication of the ICT Act could result in it being rendered as a conflicting law with the supreme law of the land, the constitution.

Well, at least they are saying what we all know about the capacity of the regulator. It is just like the phone calls we make or the sms we send. There is nothing secret about them with the service provider or the regulator. People should simply take precaution not to say or write things they cannot say or write publicly.

Rubbish news report. The journalist is from a sub standard school. While anti terrorist cells all over the wall could not break whatsApp security system, these dumb guys at the ZICTA are claiming sensations. These are result of an id*otic President and his stup*d Vice President, who are taking the country to full ruination.

Citizens have right to privacy,to begin with,secondly stronger nations can’t break into certain social media,ZICTA is lying and trying to intimidate citizens into submission to unlawful practices by Lungu.NQ software on Google among others is able to encycript calls.VOIP calls on WhatsApp, IMO and others pass in the net as data only a witchdoctor can monitor them.

They have no capacity or skills to do what they are claiming. Zambian are so daft to believe and probably scared stiff. They are bluffing, just continue using social media. You are all protected by strong encryption.

What ZICTA is saying is that they are monitoring our entire online activity. To protect our selves against this intrusions into our privacy I suggest we use encrypted browsers for laptops and phones such as the Tor Browser. Google it, read more about it. Protect yourselves people!! Before they get you!

They have no capacity or skills to do what they are claiming. Zambian are so daft to believe and probably scared stiff. They are bluffing, just continue using social media. You are all protected by strong encryption.

ZICTA is made up of jokers er? Even the FBI strangles to get into peoples’ WhatsApp messages but ZICTA does it all the time? I dont know about you but I find that not very easy to believe. And why is the government boasting about committing crimes in the first place?

Ba Chisala, you are embarrassing the IT fraternity. You are talking like a lay man.I do not support any abuse of social media.However, to say that you can intercept whatsApp message is a far fetched dream. And talking of your equipment that can enable you read even erased data from a PC, that is no news at all. Students all over the world do that everyday.You don’t need special equipment for that. You guys should be me professional and stop sounding so shallow.

I brushed it off when i received that warning. Ba ZICTA think they can achieve what FBI has failed to do when technology in Zambia is still in its infancy. The highest risk of information being leaked is through group chats. People need to be careful and make sure there is no Judas in the group

All dictators are extremely fearful of freedom of speech. Its the PF wanting to sensor citizens activity on social media for their interests. They thought by shutting down The Post, Zambians will only have ZNBC, Times and Daily Mail to dance to their propaganda. ZICTA have no capacity to tap WhatsApp nor Facebook and in a very unlikely event using some form of witchcraft or voodoo that they be able to do it I will sue not ZICTA but WhatsApp or Facebook.

Although I don’t see eye to eye with Jay Jay but today am supporting him. These guys are day dreaming. Do they really understand what it means end to end encryption? The UK and US has been fighting facebook C.E.O to remove the encryption so that they can get access to the said messages and these guys are saying they can. Well that’s a violation of personal privacy Mr. If you didn’t know. I rest my case.

Wait until you are cornered.
FBI managed to crack the password even without help from Apple. Dont try and make yourself feel safe they will catch up with you especially those who like to post hate messages on blogs

Please dont scare us, Kikikikiki Ba ZICTA. Please… Zambia has no TERRORISM like most of these countries.I lived in Pakistan for many years, and i never heard , the Government’s giant telecommunication company talk like that, even if that is where TERRORIST are breed.

As usual it’s the law breakers who may be afraid or argue. This is matter of compliance with our own laws. You only come to appreciate when foolish individuals start to trouble you on social media. You have noticed how individuals have been insulting people. It’s clear that they do this because they think they will not be traced, this is cowardice. Now you are being warned, to sensor your mouths.

“We’re gonna come after you!”? What a fool! Does he even understand what the implications are for himself? This just indicates the level of ignorance and stupidity permeating the governing party and their cohorts. Post-ECL, there has to be a great deal of soul searching and remodelling of our institutions, especially educational institutions spewing out such garbage for leaders. We then have to purge and ensure that only those suitably qualified and responsible occupy positions in government and allied institutions. I hope this guy gets dealt with by his superiors immediately. If not, we’ll take it that they’re complicit and he’s echoing their views.

Trying to scare us, these wankers lack the resources to do and they cant even hack is a simple social account. To hell is there destiny. Problem of putting poor minded scumbags in power leads to this. Zambians had there time not to put this party back in 2011. And this is what it has led us to, our rights are stepped on like lab rats. #releaseHH #leavestatehousetoday
Hey old grouch you forgot that VPNs are cheaper than your Pair of Panties

It is very easy to find the location of someone especially when they use social media platforms as this one- you only need to get their IP address using their digital signature by right clicking on the page and choosing from the drop down menu. Accessing Whatsapp is another issue- to get access of someone’s whatsapp message one would have to use a clone server but you would have to know the number of the person whose account you wish to hack! Which is why some people avoid giving their numbers or putting their numbers on social networking sites such as FB or linkedin! So Zicta are actually quit right as they have a list of names and numbers of the owners of those names-however I believe they would require an act of Parliament to do so as the current Law on information is vague.

Stop lying iwe Mofya. Do you know what encryption mean? What a dull chap this Mofya. Anyway what can you expect from a chap who failed IDPM at ZAMIM? A pure cadre this villager who basically is so ill qualified for the job he’s holding. This is a chap who has frustrated alot of sharp minds at ZICTA all because of politicking. Listening to him personally one wonders how a dull chap can be hearding a serious deprtment like that.

A phone can be cloned at sender and user stage meaning it’s not necessary to decrypt information in transmission but only access it from source to termination. The definition of cloning is the technique of making an identical copy of something.

#Mushota
Whatever stage you reach in life there is someone better than you or worse than you. So if you think you don’t use WhatsApp so be it because no one will force you to use or not to use it. Please stop yapping and think in a more humane manner.

I think bloggers are missing the point here. What’s alarming is not whether or not they have the capability to decrypt or intercept electronic or digital communications but rather they are are actually contemplating on censoring citizens on behalf of the government just because they have differing views from those in power. That is the definition of dictatorship regime practised like North Korea, China and those in the Middle East. This is what should all worry you. What’s next, coming into bars and your homes to monitor your conversations so you don’t insult the authorities? They are coming for you, whatcha gonna do now, huh? You thought this was about Mmembe and HH, wrong! By the way don’t doubt their capabilities, remember they are funded by the Chinese and use Huawei technologies…

By the way don’t doubt their capabilities, remember they are funded by the Chinese and use Huawei technologies and products. They don’t necessarily need to encrypt the messages, rather they just need to intercept them by colluding with mobile service providers. E.g. they can have access to the actual numbers (what the blogger above is calling ‘cloning’). So be afraid, be very afraid! Your govt is about to take away your freedom of speech and expression.

Yaba, ati “they don’t necessarily need to encrypt the messages, rather they just need to intercept them by colluding with mobile service providers”. For what good is intercepting a message you cant read?

LOL- Either this ZICTA Director for Consumer Protection Mofya Chisala is “arguing from ignorance” (i.e. he does not know that he does not know what he is talking about), or he has seen people’s ignorance in computer science, (some go to the extent of believing in computer-witchcraft), and he has decided to use it as a loophole to induce fear among those with divergent views.

The fun part is when he says “we have a very good relationship with Facebook and Google“… malabishi! How can these giant supporters of free speech ‘ve part of such dictatorship and it’s intention to suppress free speech. Google and Facebook actually help suppressed citizens of dictatorship regimes skirt around censorship and govt firewalls.

I recall them (together with Wikipedia) throwing their weight opposing some legislation bills in the US about stopping online piracy (SOPA and PIPA) that were going to favour movie industry but that was going to infringe on people’s freedom of information and speech. So how could they support [email protected] this?

On that one he’s blushing for sure. But like I said, the problem is the fact that this govt is actually intending on taking…

On that one he’s blushing for sure. But like I said, the problem is the fact that this govt is actually intending on taking away people’s constitutional rights. That should worry even their staunch supporters like MMD Chief B00tlicker and B.R. Mumba Snr (aka Smart Enterprise), and other PF headless cadres.

Ba ZICTA if you have nothing to say just keep your mouth shut. You are now messing the ICT professional in Zambia. Get to understand what SSL an TLS Typography Encreption is. Am offering FREE lecture PLUS FREE Bonus Practical lessons on all these for all the entire ZICTA. Trace this message to qualify!!!

Don’t be agitated or scared other they will think the stunt worked. These are a tooth-less institution with no capacity to do anything except being used by politicians. He is playing with people’s minds. Only uneducated people will be moved by this sheet. Let’s continue to share and gossip on whatsapp for infinity years.

LT you have again blocked my constructive comments. Clearly you’re part of a system aimed at creating an illusion that all is well when the country deteriorating into a police state. This is the last time I visit your site. Good luck!

So this what our taxpayer money is used for? Paying people to invade privacy of its own citizens. I think this instution should be closed. Why should Zambians pay for someone to be reading facebook or whatsup messages all day. I think its time we all stop paying taxes. Let Lungu get the money from his corrupt affliates and pay such.

Outstanding – ZICTA can now recover all your deleted items from your old devices.
They should commercialize their solution – I’m sure they’d give other online backup solutions a run for their money.
The new constitution that we refused protected us from being searched.
The only protection we have is to make sure our devices are doubly secured; encrypt your laptops, your phones, your tablets – turn on all the security features available. Use complex passwords and don’t just rely on your fingerprint. Enable multi-factor authentication on all your social media accounts and emails.
Practice safe surfing!
Politicians have taken our county, they will not take our internet – the last freedom we have.

“We are goona come after you and we will make you an example because we will name and shame you and we are going to blacklist you in Zambia, meaning you cannot use any of these services and if cousin, your mother, your father buys you a phone and you start using and we find out, we will blacklist your mother, your father, your cousin and whoever will give you access.” if this is not madness what is then kikikiki kikikiki, we have good relationship with Facebook Kikikiki my foot

But Ba Mofya mwatusebana. Ati we have good relationship with ba Facebook and ba whatsup. Okay but Iam not surprised, because if that’s you in the main picture, then your puffy face and bore head tells it all.

BA CHISHALA, DONT CHEAT THE ZAMBIANS, THAT YOU CAN READ MESSAGES ON WHATS APP, BUFI ITS END TO END ENCRYPT. I REPEAT, NO ON CAN READ YOUR MESSAGES. CHISHALA IS TRYING TO SCARE YOU. THEY DONT HAVE THE CAPACITY TO DO THAT PERIOD. WILL KEEP CRITICISING YOUR FAILED AND YOUR DRUNKARD. HERE IN CANADA.